Number System
COMPUTER AWARENESS
Copyright © 2014-2020 TestBook Edu Solutions Pvt. Ltd.: All rights reserved
Download Testbook App
Number System
Number systems are the technique to represent numbers in the computer system
architecture, every value that you are saving or getting into/from computer memory
has a defined number system.
Computer architecture supports following number systems:
1. Binary number system
2. Octal number system
3. Decimal number system
4. Hexadecimal (hex) number system
Binary Number System
A Binary number system has only two digits that are 0 and 1. Every number (value)
represents with 0 and 1 in this number system. The base of binary number system is
2, because it has only two digits.
Octal number system
Octal number system has only eight (8) digits from 0 to 7. Every number (value)
represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 in this number system. The base of octal number
system is 8, because it has only 8 digits.
Decimal number system
Decimal number system has only ten (10) digits from 0 to 9. Every number (value)
represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, 7, 8 and 9 in this number system. The base of decimal
number system is 10, because it has only 10 digits.
COMPUTER AWARENESS | Number System PAGE 2
Download Testbook App
Hexadecimal number system
A Hexadecimal number system has sixteen (16) alphanumeric values from 0 to
9 and A to F. Every number (value) represents with 0,1,2,3,4,5,6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C,
D, E and F in this number system. The base of hexadecimal number system is 16,
because it has 16 alphanumeric values. Here A is 10, B is 11, C is 12, D is 13, E is
14 and F is 15.
Representation
Table of the Numbers Systems with Base, Used Digits, Representation, C language
representation:
Number system Base Used digits Example C Language
int
Binary 2 0,1 (11110000)2
val=0b11110000;
Octal 8 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 (360)8 int val=0360;
Decimal 10 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 (240)10 int val=240;
0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
Hexadecimal 16 , (F0)16 int val=0xF0;
A,B,C,D,E,F
Number System Conversions
There are three types of conversion:
Decimal Number System to Other Base [for example: Decimal Number
System to Binary Number System]
Other Base to Decimal Number System [for example: Binary Number
System to Decimal Number System]
COMPUTER AWARENESS | Number System PAGE 3
Download Testbook App
Other Base to Other Base [for example: Binary Number System to
Hexadecimal Number System]
Decimal Number System to Other Base
To convert Number system from Decimal Number System to Any Other Base is
quite easy; you have to follow just two steps:
1. Divide the Number (Decimal Number) by the base of target base system (in
which you want to convert the number: Binary (2), octal (8) and Hexadecimal
(16)).
2. Write the remainder from step 1 as a Least Signification Bit (LSB) to Step
last as a Most Significant Bit (MSB).
Decimal to Binary Conversion Result
Decimal Number is : (12345)10
Binary Number is
(11000000111001)2
COMPUTER AWARENESS | Number System PAGE 4
Download Testbook App
Decimal to Octal Conversion Result
Decimal Number is : (12345)10
Octal Number is
(30071)8
Decimal to Hexadecimal Conversion Result
Example 1
Hexadecimal Number is
Decimal Number is : (12345)10 (3039)16
Hexadecimal Number is
(2D5)16
Example 2 Convert
Decimal Number is : (725)10 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
to its equivalent...
A, B, C, D, E, F
COMPUTER AWARENESS | Number System PAGE 5
Download Testbook App
Other Base System to Decimal Number Base
To convert Number System from Any Other Base System to Decimal Number
System, you have to follow just three steps:
1. Determine the base value of source Number System (that you want to
convert), and also determine the position of digits from LSB (first digit’s
position – 0, second digit’s position – 1 and so on).
2. Multiply each digit with its corresponding multiplication of position value and
Base of Source Number System’s Base.
3. Add the resulted value in step-B.
Explanation regarding examples:
Below given examples contains the following rows:
1. Row 1 contains the DIGITs of number (that is going to be converted).
2. Row 2 contains the POSITION of each digit in the number system.
3. Row 3 contains the multiplication: DIGIT* BASE^POSITION.
4. Row 4 contains the calculated result of step C.
5. And then add each value of step D, resulted value is the Decimal
Number.
Binary to Decimal Conversion
Binary Number is : (11000000111001)2
COMPUTER AWARENESS | Number System PAGE 6
Download Testbook App
Octal to Decimal Conversion Result
Octal Number is : (30071)8 =12288+0+0+56+1
=12345
Decimal Number is: (12345)10
Hexadecimal to Decimal Conversion Result
Hexadecimal Number is : (2D5)16
=512+208+5
=725
Decimal Number is: (725)10
COMPUTER AWARENESS | Number System PAGE 7